Washington,
DC, May 25, 2006 - Today the National Security
Archive is publishing the first
installment of the diary of one of the key
behind-the-scenes figures of the Gorbachev era - Anatoly
Sergeevich Chernyaev. This document is being published in
English here for the first time.

It is hard to overestimate the uniqueness and importance
of this diary for our understanding of the end of the Cold
War - and specifically for the peaceful withdrawal of Soviet
forces from Afghanistan and Eastern Europe, and the dissolution
of the Soviet Union. The document allows the reader a rare
opportunity to become a fly on the wall during the heady
discussions of early perestroika, and to witness such fascinating
phenomena as how the dying ideology of Soviet-style communism
held sway over the hearts and minds of Soviet society.

In 2004, Anatoly Chernyaev donated the originals of his
diaries from 1972 to 1991 to the National Security Archive
in order to ensure full and permanent public access to his
notes - beyond the reach of the political uncertainties
of contemporary Russia. The Archive is planning to publish
the complete English translation of the diaries in regular
installments.

This first
installment covers the year 1985, which saw
the election of Mikhail Gorbachev to the post of General
Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU)
and the beginning of the changes that were evident first
in the "style," and then in the practice of Soviet
domestic and foreign policy. The diary gives a detailed
account of Gorbachev's election and of the political struggle
associated with it. The author is observing the changes
in 1985 from his position as a senior analyst in the International
Department of the Central Committee (CC), where Chernyaev
was in charge of relations with West European Communist
parties.

The author documents all the major developments of 1985
- beginning from the first revelations about the sad state
of the Soviet economy and the extent of such societal problems
as alcoholism, to anguished discussions about the war in
Afghanistan, to the first summit with President Ronald Reagan
in Geneva. Throughout the year, the most noticeable change
is the process of radical "cleansing" of the party
- the great turnover of personnel designed to replace the
old dogmatic Brezhnevite elite. The diary sheds light on
how, gradually but persistently, Gorbachev built his reform
coalition, making such fateful decisions as appointing Eduard
Shevardnadze to the post of Foreign Minister, and bringing
Boris Yeltsin to Moscow.

The pages of the diary provide a gallery of living portraits
of all the influential figures in the highest echelons of
the Soviet elite who in 1985 were engaged in a struggle
for political survival under the new leadership. Chernyaev
observes his colleagues in the Central Committee trying
to reconcile their ingrained ideology with the new "Gorbachev
style," or "Gorbachev thinking." He himself,
as is clear from his notes, remained committed to the Leninist
romanticism of communist ideology and argued for going back
to Lenin in an effort to purify and reform the Soviet society.

One line of Chernyaev's narrative follows developments
in the influential International Department of the CC CPSU
as its staff tried to find answers about the future of the
international communist movement as the Soviet Union itself
began to change. Gorbachev at that time chose to renounce
Moscow's Big Brother role with regard to socialist countries
and non-ruling Communist parties, both in terms of dictating
to them but also bankrolling them. Chernyaev presents us
with an intimate portrait of one of the most influential
figures in the Soviet leadership - the head of the International
Department, Boris N. Ponomarev.

The diary gives a detailed account about one of the most
important (and long poorly-understood) dynamics of foreign
policy making in the Soviet Union - the interaction between
the Central Committee and the Foreign Ministry in every
step of the preparation of major events and decisions. From
its pages, one can see the tremendous role of experts and
consultants - the free-thinking intellectuals of the Soviet
elite - in forming policy priorities for the leadership.
The International Department was a major oasis of enlightened
thinking in the Soviet nomenklatura; it provided
Gorbachev with people on whom he could rely for new ideas
and honest estimates of the situation after coming to power
- beginning with Anatoly Chernyaev, whom Gorbachev chose
as his foreign policy adviser in March 1986. One can confidently
say that every bold foreign policy initiative advanced by
Gorbachev in the years 1986-1991 bears Chernyaev's mark
on it. Thus, the diary gives insights into the thought processes
of one of most influential new thinkers in Moscow.

Anatoly Sergeevich Chernyaev was born on May 25, 1921 in
Moscow. He fought in World War II beginning in 1941. After
the war, he returned to his studies at Moscow State University
in the Department of History, which he completed in 1948.
From 1950-1958, he taught contemporary history at Moscow
State University. From 1958-1961, Chernyaev worked in Prague
on the editorial board of the theoretical journal Problems
of Peace and Socialism, joining the International Department
in 1961. In 1986, he became foreign policy adviser to the
General Secretary, and later to the first and the last President
of the USSR. A prolific writer, Chernyaev has published
five monographs in addition to numerous articles in Soviet,
Russian, European and U.S. journals.

The National Security Archive takes great pleasure in wishing
a happy birthday to Anatoly Sergeevich, who for years has
been our partner in the mission to fight government secrecy
through glasnost. Anatoly Sergeevich turns 85 today.

The Chernyaev Diary was translated by Anna Melyakova and
edited by Svetlana Savranskaya for the National Security
Archive.